The Sacred Forest of Mawphlong, Meghalaya

The Sacred Forest of Mawphlong is located 1hr away, Southwest from Shillong. It is said to be atleast 1000 years old, covers an area of 80 hectares, and stands tall and thick amidst open, flat grasslands. At the edge of the forest and near the entrance – not an entrance actually, but almost a portal through a thick canopy to another world – are giant megaliths, thought to be 500 years old, which marks the boundary of the sacred forest. These giant stones, erected in the memory of ancestors and elders are ancient sites for thanksgiving and blessing ceremonies. Though these rituals are once a year now, these megaliths are still held in high esteem.

As you enter the sacred forest you will feel a considerable dip in the temperature. All around there will be beautiful trees of varied shades and hues - some tall & dark, a few short and moss-covered, but each untouched and alive. You will feel as if the trees are breathing, keeping a watch on you as you walk the dark canopy of forest. The trees here are heavily loaded with aroids, pipers, ferns, fern-allies and orchids – their smell thick in the air. Even the elder trunks that had fallen gracefully after a full, long and prosperous life, you will see, are home to lichens and mosses and ferns. You will see the thick canopy of leaves playing hide and seek with the blue sky and the sunlight seemingly twists and turns, valiantly trying to penetrate this living, breathing foliage. The forest floor is thick & cushioned with humus and foliage - a rich, wet, blanket untouched for centuries. You will hear your feet squelch into this thick cushion and you will try not to trip over old, gnarled roots, twisted around each other. You will hear strange sounds and whispers - a cacophony of insects, high pitched urgent notes of birds, as if, it is an alarm call warning the Gods of an unwanted visitor! Somewhere in the background, you will hear is the gurgle of a stream flowing over stones and roots, on its way to another darker, deeper place. It is an intense sensory experience if you walk in with an open mind.

As you keep on walking on the multi layered antique carpet of leaves, twigs, fruits and ferns, woven together in centuries, you will pass a number of stone altars. The altars, now covered with green moss, were a part of rituals performed to appease the forest spirits. And the prayer is very simple and goes like this – “‘O Great Uncle, O Father, forgive them; the young children who know nothing. Do not punish them. Forgive them, release them so that they will always remember you. Release them.”

As I walked out of the sacred forest after spending a good one hour inside, I wondered did the Khasis attach religious beliefs to these places in an attempt to conserve them or are they truly the abode of benign spirits that keep an eye on the communities? Whatever it may be, it really doesn’t matter for it reassured me that the sacred forests of Meghalaya will continue to be spiritually significant and will keep on changing hands from one generation to the other - unspoiled and intact.